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Nice that they showed that Brian had always helped out Hibito and in the end the robot Brian saved his life. Though kind of upset they showed it more dramatical than truthful about what would happen when the tank would be empty. THough glad Hibito did live in the end. Liked how that one guy at Jaxa was upset that Houston didn't listen when Mutta guessed right about Hibito's location.

Hibito would almost certainly have died in the situation depicted. The writers could have used the traditional "saving the hero with just a few seconds left in the countdown" strategy. As cliched as that is, it would have been more realistic in this case.

I'm not a physician, but I would be concerned about the long-term implications for his mental functioning after that much oxygen deprivation. Anyone with medical experience wish to chime in?

I'm not a doctor or anything but wouldn't Hibito last probably a minute or two after losing oxygen? I mean as astronauts, they do intense training, right? They're not exactly normal in physical capabilities like us.

Hibito would almost certainly have died in the situation depicted. The writers could have used the traditional "saving the hero with just a few seconds left in the countdown" strategy. As cliched as that is, it would have been more realistic in this case.

I'm not a physician, but I would be concerned about the long-term implications for his mental functioning after that much oxygen deprivation. Anyone with medical experience wish to chime in?

The main problem with the human brain in these situations is that it is unable to perform anaerobic respiration, making it highly susceptible to oxygen deprivation. On the other hand, it's fed by 4 major arteries and blood flow to the brain is prioritized in said moments of oxygen deprivation, giving it a little bit of leeway when it happens, but not really by much. One also needs to realize that sudden loss of oxygen intake doesn't immediately cause asphyxiation, like how you can still operate underwater while holding your breath. You still have some oxygen in your bloodstream in these moments.

If I assume that for argument's sake that the average oxygen concentration in Hibito's suit remained more or less constant up until the exact moment that his tank runs out, then he would not suffer oxygen deprivation until the exact moment it does run out, and the body's compensatory mechanisms could still allow him a precious few minutes to operate before asphyxiation sets in and his brain shuts down.

Now if let's say that if as the oxygen in his tank begins to run down the average oxygen concentration in his suit had also began to decrease, then it's possible to consider that he had already began to suffer deprivation even before it ran out. If that's the case then it would have been highly unlikely for him to have made it to Brian because he'd have exhausted his compensation by then.

Though I'm disappointed with how they handled it. It was way too far fetched especially when you consider Hibito's initial reeactio once oxygen stopped flowing. with such reaction there is no way he could stand and move as well as keep breathing as he did. It should be over.

If creators really wanted to make it dramatic they should at least have Brian machine in view and near by before oxygen went out. It probably would still be unbelievable but at least Hibito would grab for oxygen before falling over.

It was wonderful to have Mutta back in the spotlight this week, but it wasn’t either Nanba brother that was most on my mind – it was Eddie Jay. I kept thinking about that shot of him alone on the aging International Space Station, talking via satellite linkup to the young and popular Japanese astronaut who was about to go to the moon. It seems to me that Eddie Jay is the forgotten man in Uchuu Kyoudai – the one who has ties to the main events of the story both personal and symbolic, but whose story hasn’t really been told. Perhaps an intentional parallel is being drawn between the story of the Jay brothers and that of the Nanba – I rather hope so, because I would hate to think of never finding out just what led Eddie to his current situation. Everyone raves about Brian Jay – “the best astronaut”, the man who taught them all so much (how to pick up chicks in Russian, how to kiss ass, how to look big), the larger-than-life hero they loved. But what was it that caused the elder brother to fall so far behind the younger? What quality did he lack that led him to the backwaters of the space program (which is still a higher plateau than 99.999% of us will ever reach, mind you) while his kid brother went on to become the most famous astronaut in the world, even before his untimely demise?

It’s hard not to see the connection down through the years between those two young boys on the back of “Brian”, standing on that lonely rock on the moon, and the two brothers who memorized every presentation at JAXA and impressed a young (and coiffed) Hoshika-san. This series is as much about those boys as the men they became – about their dreams and their passions which led them to risk their lives to pursue them. It would be disingenuous, in my view, to frame the series as Mutta’s chronicle without sharing the story of the other elder brother who inspired his otouto to pursue his dreams, only to see himself surpassed.

What a contrast from the previous episode. Mutta's reaction was done very well. The way he tried to compose himself brought a tear to my eye. Another thing that did this was Mutta finally talking to Hibito.

[spoiler="Episode 44"]I suppose I could forgive the series for its past transgression

This episode did a great job with its character moments and made up for the technical nitpicks and somewhat prolonged drama of the past few episodes.

Mutta's momentary loss of composure made the episode; somewhat oddly for the show, we had very little window on his thoughts during the whole peril, aside from his patently-fake "Oh, Hibito will be just fine" reaction. But that made the scene where he finds out how things went seem a lot more genuine.

Of course, he went back to being Older Brother in time for the video conversation.

Yeah, this episode was really enjoyable. Getting past the minor issues with how they handled Hibito's near demise, this felt right. Mutta's reaction to finding out Hibito was alright was great and really enjoyed seeing the two brothers have that chat. Both Hibito and Mutta just hanging in there in a sense. I'm sure it was impactful for Hibito to know just how he ended up being saved there and the same for Mutta upon Hibito naming him as one of the astronauts that saved him .

I really did enjoy how they handled Mutta's reaction when Hibito was saved. A lot of expressions and emotions coming out while he tried to keep control of them.

Brian-03 saved him in his last moments.
Azuma and JAXA were on the same page about their predictions.
The flashbacks were good.
It was nice watching Mutta feeling relieved.
Reunion with other astronauts was touching.
Short flashback from Brian's childhood was nice.

I don't know, I'm getting a bit tired of how they portray Mutta's reactions. I mean, the post reaction when Hibito took off from Earth was OK, but now it just seems like they force a certain uniqueness to each of them, making them feel rather silly and kitschy. A simple "I'm glad" would've worked just fine.

Brian-03 saved him in his last moments.
Azuma and JAXA were on the same page about their predictions.
The flashbacks were good.
It was nice watching Mutta feeling relieved.
Reunion with other astronauts was touching.
Short flashback from Brian's childhood was nice.

As a Linux enthusiast, it looked to me like JAXA was using either that or some other Unix platform based on that array of displays during Mutta's conversation with Hibito.

I especially liked the background music during the opening of this episode. I don't know if we've heard it before, but it made me realize how excellent the scoring for this show has been throughout. It's never intrusive but always appropriate, highlighting the events on screen. I don't watch much network television in America any more, but I would say that, on average, the scores composed for anime are better than anything I can remember over here. There are the occasional exceptions like Danny Elfman, but he generally only writes theme songs for television shows rather than the scores themselves. This is the only score I've heard by the composer for Uchuu Kyoudai, Watanabe Toshiyuki, but I thought I take a moment and give him a tip of my space helment for his work on this show.

My favorite line of this episode has to be Buddy's recollection of Brian teaching him how to hit on Russian women. We haven't seen much about the Russian space program in this show. I wonder if Brian put the moves on some lovely Russian astronaut while aboard the ISS?

It’s hard not to see the connection down through the years between those two young boys on the back of “Brian”, standing on that lonely rock on the moon, and the two brothers who memorized every presentation at JAXA and impressed a young (and coiffed) Hoshika-san. This series is as much about those boys as the men they became – about their dreams and their passions which led them to risk their lives to pursue them. It would be disingenuous, in my view, to frame the series as Mutta’s chronicle without sharing the story of the other elder brother who inspired his otouto to pursue his dreams, only to see himself surpassed.

The parallel between the two sets of brother is indeed hard to miss. I would be interested in finding out Eddie's story, but I think it might be better left to the imagination. The reason he was surpassed by his brother is probably very simple: he was simply not as exceptional as his brother was. Effort and passion cannot get you everywhere, you need something more, which he lacked. Both of the Nanba brothers, however, seems to possess that "spark" that separates them from "normal" individuals. This episode made that very clear about Mutta.

Personally, I'd be more interested in learning how Eddie felt about his brother's accomplishments, rather than the reason he was left behind.

The scene when Mutta was told Hibito was okay and we finally saw that he was holding back his worry & fear that whole time was beautifully done.

I also loved the discussion between them in the end. They both acted like nothing happened but you could tell how Mutta was worried about Hibito and Hibito was sorry to put Mutta through that. Just a great scene that really showed the bond between those two.

Of course the last few episodes were riveting, but somehow those quiet and realistic moments are what makes Space Brothers the wonderful series at the end.

Some interesting casting tidbits this week. Komachi Michiko – the character’s name translates as “Little Town, Little Street” - is played by Ayado Chie, who most surely be in a very small group of seiyuu to make their debut at age 55 (though she’s quite a famous chanteuse in Japan). There’s another notable seiyuu debut in this ep too – Koyama Chuuya as “Tissue” from Tissue Taros, who won the “Comedy Grand Prix” with Tissue’s reading of “Nyanbo!” If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the mangaka of Uchuu Kyoudai. Next week brings us the unmistakable stylings of Tsuda Kenjiro as Mutta's hard-ass instructor in Houston.

Others impressions and proud moments about Mutta and Hibito.
After all those excitements, this was a pretty relaxed episode.
Lots of flashbacks too.
So Mutta finally got his official uniform ^^
Looks like it's time to continue with their training.